two scouts
by Alffi
Summary: Nimue wants to find her sister Guinevere and lead her people to win the war against the Saxons. A certain knight hangs around a lot.
1. First impressions

**Disclaimer: I really wish i could own tristan, but no. I don´t own anything anyone recognices in the story.**

You sit on a tree branch, waiting for the approaching rider to get close. Too bad he noticed you before you even have time to open your mouth. So in half a second you find yourself in the ground with the wrong end of an arrow pointed to your heart.

" Whoa! Wait!" you try to reassure the man, " you know I could be an unarmed innocent tree climber"

" Yeah," he laughed " and Arthur could marry a woad."

" Well, if you don´t kill me first, maybe it could be me. Or more probably my sister. I know your lot saved her. Will you take me to her? You like Saxons nearly as little as I do. Will the enemy of my enemy be my friend?"

" Huh?" Real brainiack this one, you think. But oh well, since when have warriors been great thinkers.

" My sister. Guinevere. Will you take me to her? I promise i won´t slaughter you all. The rich Roman guy and his soldiers are more likely to cause you problems" you laugh softly. Hesitation crossed the man´s face before he loosens his bow and extends you a hand to help you behind him.

" But be quiet, for all i know there could be Saxon scouts around"

" There are no Saxon soul within miles of here" you assure him but he grunts a stupid-girl-what-would-you-know-grunt. So, not a speaker either, you think amusedly.

"Trust me. I know. I have been scouting these grounds for a couple of days now, since the news of you finding my sister reached me, waiting for your caravan to come." You continue.

" Well, will you shut up for me?" He sighed frustrated about your rambling. You think about it for a few seconds and decide to push your luck.

" Nah.. not really"

another grunt which brought a smile on your face. Then you noticed his tigh.

" Wait a minute. Stop the horse" you demand

" What now!" He almost shouts annoyed

" You have a bloody arrow stuck in your leg. Now get down and let me do something about it"

" Are you some sort of healer now?" he argued.

" No I´m not, but every woad woman has to learn these things.. mostly because of you and your other knight friends. I have stitched up about a tribe of woads wounded by your arrows, so I could probably do something about that Saxon handiwork too" You lecture him so that finally he obeys eye balling you and gets down the horse helping you down too. For a microsecond you are in his arms and you really don´t like the fuzzy feeling that followed it.

"Now sit down on that stone." You tell him while you search for the potion for wounds in your leather backpack. It´s a mixture of alcohol and herbs that drives away the evil spirits that could other way inhabit an open wound and make it rot, eating slowly the whole body of a person. You also take a fine needle and some thread.

As you exposed the man´s thigh carefully you tell him truthfully, " This won´t hurt just a little bit"

And Then, as quickly as possible, you pull the arrow out while the man screamed in agony. He grabs your shoulder for support as you gently apply some potion in his wound and soak the thread and needle in it too. Then you start stitching the wound carefully.

" You were right", says the man after you were done and smiled for the first time a very quick little smile," It didn´t hurt just a little bit."

" I´m Nimue, healer of my people" you introduce yourself while you two continue the ride to the man's camp.

" Tristan" he answers softly as you begin to dose off on his shoulder


	2. sneaking is what scouts do

You wake up abruptly, hearing people talking in the clearing near by.

" Tristan, do you hear it?" you whisper. He seems tense too and nods.

"Let´s get of the horse and walk" you suggest still whispering. He helps you down and gestures the horse to stay quiet. Your awe is big when the horse actually seems to understand and kind of tip toes away. So awed actually that you bump into his back as you are still watching the horse leaving. – I'm really a horrible scout-, you think.

You two sneak behind a big oak by the clearing arrows ready. You let your arrow down when you see Merlin, Guinevere and Arthur, but Tristan still points his at the unknown man.

"That´s my father your pointing that thing at!", you hiss at the knight placing your hand to his arm to lower it. "He´s not going to harm your commander."

Another grunt. -He really doesn't speak at all-. You haven´t got used to such manners. Woad men are talkative and generally joyful people, when not killing Romans in battle rage of course.

You hear Arthur shouting at Merlin. Talking about the deaths of his mother and father spitefully, hatred in his voice. Merlin tries to calm and reason him but with no succes.

"It is your destiny" your father says to him calmly.

"There´s no destiny, only free will!" Arthur shouts and storms away passing you and Tristan by just a few meters. Tristan presses you closer to the tree as he sweeps pass. Your father and sister still stay and talk but so quietly you two can´t hear them. Not that you´d hear a battle horn right now because of the smell and weight of the man pressing you against the tree makes the blood rush in your ears and heart pound like a drum. You are happy that is so dark that Tristan can´t see the turnips like colour that has raised to your cheeks. How can a man who supposedly hadn't have a good bath in weeks smell this intoxicatedly sweet and manly. He smelled like apples and sex. -Oh god, I hope he didn't catch me sniffing him-, you panic when you notice him watching you in the eye with a weird, questionable look in his eyes.

"krhm" you clear your throat, "I think they left already."

Tristan nods a little still looking in your eyes making you very very disoriented.

"So.. In theory you could let go." You say mentally kicking yourself in the head for even suggesting it. -Maybe if I hadn't said anything, he wouldn't have noticed and i could have kept sniffing him for the rest of my life-, you think little out of your mind.

"I was just umm.. checking.. yeah checking" he mumbles as he let´s go and turns to get his horse.

The man further away you wake up from your weird state.-I think that was because of.. stress? Yeah, stress makes people act weird- you think to yourself.

When Tristan comes back with his horse he doesn't see you anywhere.

"winter apples!" you call out to him from the apple tree he's under.

"Catch them when I drop them. I'm getting hungry". You really are starting to feel stupid because of your monologues with him. Something swirls past you. Tristan had thrown a knife to an apple so it would fall to him.

"Show off" you snort at him as he catches his apple and smirks up at you with a genuine boyish grin you've never tough the quiet man would be capable of. For some reason your heart skips a beat again. you drop a bunch of apples down, some you aim to the head of the knight and he dodges them all, laughing as he does so.

"If I jump will you catch me or dodge me too?"

"Try and find out", he answers laughter in his voice.

"Better not risk it then", you smile and climb down. –He's not the man I've seen in battlefield nor the one I've been watching scouting around. Why is he so different now.- Your thoughts wander. The man seemed relaxed instead of the always serious and angry under the surface like he is normally. Even his friends would be awed, because even if Tristan was less withdrawn in occasions when behind the safety of the wall, those moments where rare and often accompanied with some amounts of mead.

You two sit under the tree and start eating the apples accompanied with some bread Tristan had in his saddlebag.

"Tell me", you start after a while of silence, "How is your home? Sarmatia?"

"We sacrifice goats, drink their blood and dance around the fire naked" Tristan smiles dryly to the knights joke.

"So, not that different from this land. We just use dears instead" You answer with a straight face.

"To be honest, all I remember is all the open ground. You can ride for days and not see forests or mountains" he continues dreamily. This is the most he had speaked the hole night and something tells you that he´s almost never this talkative.

"You've never been up north in the highlands? It was my growing up rite. Walk so far up north there's no land any more, then come back. Take your time. Get to know your homeland. Best time of my life, out there alone letting the mother goddess take care of you." you whisper going back in your memories. From the time you killed you first boar on yourself to when you found the warm springs midst a northern forest.

After a while of silence Tristan finally says.

"We should return to the camp", he gets up and helps you on his horse horse. The white horse reminds you of the white horse cut to the ground in south, your father had told you of it and some day you would like to see the tribute to mother goddess.


	3. I love her, but i don't Love her!

You two arrive to the camp to find the rich Roman dead and everyone else in quite a bustle. Apparently there has been an uproar. Seeing one of your sister's arrows struck in the chest of the dead man, you figure out she was the one to stop it. Tristan gallops to his commander throwing him a Saxon crossbow and claiming it to be armor-piercing. But you don't really listen to the man, even before he has stopped his horse you leap off it and run to your sister to hug her.  
"I though I lost you!" you exclaim tightening your hold of her.  
"There were no news about your whereabouts. I looked everywhere." You almost cry.  
"I know you did, and if someone would have found me, it would have been you", Guinevere cries too. In the mean time the knights, aside from Tristan who knows who you are, are gaping for air. Especially Arthur and Lancelot seem saddened.. and, as disgusting as it is, horny.

"Are you two special friends?!" Bors finally blurts and Dagonet slaps him over the head. Guinevere looks at the knights and their red faces and for the first time since being captured she laughs, long and heartily.  
"Sisters... and not the kind who love each other ", you tell them blushing and raise your eyes to meet Tristan's deep brown ones. He seems amused but you've known him long enough to know that you can not be always sure with him.- Has it really been only a few hours-, you wonder,-It feels like years.-

"Well. After everyone's relations with each other are solved", says Arthur finally recovering his speech and throwing a look -easily capable of killing- at Bors, who mutters something along the lines:"Everyone else was thinking the same thing, I just said it out loud".  
"We should really get going. The Saxons are not far away", Arthur concludes.  
"Would you..."  
"Nimue, sir", you answer him.  
"Nimue. Would you like to travel in the wagon with your sister?" Arthur offers kindly.  
"No, thank you, sir. I can scout with Tristan. Four eyes can see more than two." you suggest.  
"I don't think Tristan want's..." Arthur starts but is cut short when Tristan gives you his hand to lift you behind him on the horse and you two start to gallop away from the camp, you holding tightly around his waist to prevent yourself from falling.  
"..company" he ends his sentence baffled. Guinevere consoles him by putting a hand on his arm, which causes Lancelot to throw a jealous look at the two of them.  
"She couldn't stay still in a wagon and she is the best scout I know. Similar souls seem to like each others company. Even when they are normally loners." She says to him before climbing to the wagon.

You and Tristan spend two days going on circles around the painfully slow caravan. You two kill all the scouts the Saxons send to learn about the caravan and their whereabouts. In two occasions you even shoot arrows at the main group from save, higher grounds. Every once in a while you climb to tall trees to take a look around. Tristan always stays down with his horse. You figure soon out that the man actually can't climb very well and doesn't want to show it. This kind of pride, common to many men, amuses you, but you know better than tease him about it, because you know he could make you ride his horse on your own and you would fall in seconds, probably breaking your neck in the progress. -Maybe I can teach him to climb in the future-, you catch yourself thinking one time when up in a treetop. You shake yourself out of it in a minute. He will leave the minute he gets his papers, he has nothing to stay for in this country. He wouldn't stay. At least not for a wild, untamed, stubborn girl who was certainly not a damsel in distress. -That's what all men want, someone little and obeying, someone who doesn't have a sharp tongue and who needs his man to save him from every little rodent hanging in the corner of the cot.-, you think, suddenly feeling very down and bitter.

Finally you climb down where Tristan has lighted a small fire to roast the rabbit you caught earlier.  
"There's only one apple left. Here, you take it." Tristan offers you the last apple from his bag.  
"But you love apples", you question him. He just shrugs his shoulders and gives you the fruit. Some of his long hair had fall in his face and you just couldn't resist your urge and brush it back. Suddenly you realize the lack of space between you two and the fact that you still have your hand tangled in his hair. As he does not make any gesture to retrieve but just watch you deeply in your eyes, you start to braid the hairs which always fall to cover his eyes. He leans slightly closer as you do so and seems to inhale deeply. -Is he... is he Sniffing me?- you think uncertainly. For a reason you don't know, you blurt out.

"what do I smell of?" He seems surprised of being caught but then he does something unexpected. He leans even closer. His forehead leans on your chin, touching your collarbone softly with his lips. You feel his breath on your neck. -Holy Avalon!- you think holding his head and closing the last gap between the two of you as he puts his arms around you, holding you tightly.

"Of forest, spring and mead. More intoxicating than any mead I've ever drank" he whispers almost too quietly for you to hear. Later you would go back at this as the exact moment you fell to the man, harder than ever before for anyone. Unluckily that was the same exact moment the man's hawk decides to jealously shriek on the ears of you both. That ruins the moment pretty much completely. You two sit awkwardly on the opposite sides of the fire and eat your dinner trying not to look at each other.

After a while you two go to sleep as the fire dies down in the night. You wake up a few hours later trembling because of the cold. You tip toe next to the knight and ask if you can sleep together, he just grunts half asleep. But when you lie next to him he puts his arm around you and murmurs in his sleep :"Spring and mead". You fall a sleep with a smile on your lips.


	4. the battle of the frozen lake

**I changed the thinking of Nimue in to cursive. It looks neater and yes, I really didn't think of that before this chapter.**

**Read, review and (r)enjoy.**

In the morning you wake up to the sound of Tristan preparing the camp ready for leaving.

"We should go and reunite with the main caravan now." he says as you, still sleepy, stare at the ashes of the fire from the night before. You are really not a morning person. Usually you just stay quiet until almost noon. Not that silence would be a weird thing between you two any way.

~~~...~~~

As you two had reached the caravan you had got of his horse and had started to walk. The caravan moves so painstakingly slowly that you have no problem in keeping up with it. The drums of the Saxons keep on coming closer and closer and you can easily read the panic in the faces of the villagers. Finally the group comes to the lake and just as you start to wonder if you could break the ice behind you, so the Saxons would have to find an another way to follow the group, Arthur turns to his men and stare at the questionably?

"I´m tired of running and the Saxons are so close behind my ass is hurting" Bors is the first one to speak.

"I've never liked looking of my shoulder any way" Tristan agrees with him and you feel a warm feeling as you admire the knight's courage and ability to always say the right thing.

"It would be a pleasure to put an end for this racket" Gawain also speaks his mind.

"And finally get a look at the bastards." Galahad follows him as always.

Dagonet, good at saying the last word, finishes:"Here. Now."

One of the villagers, Ganis might be his name, you are not sure, protests to Arthur as he gives him instructions to lead the caravan to the wall.

"You'll be 7 against 300!"

"8, You could use another bow" your sister states as she descents from the wagon she had been traveling in.

"You know I won't run from a battle. When there's 9 of us, we all have to kill only 30 or so. Can be done." You boast helping an elder woman to the caravan and hoping you don't do this just to impress the silent knight. _What is wrong with me? Men don't find killing other men attractive! And I really sound ridiculous around him._

Finally the caravan leaves and your small group gets ready to fight, checking your bows and counting the arrows you have.

Too soon the group of Saxons reach the other side of the lake. To your satisfaction you see that the wind is on your favor, blowing towards the enemy so your arrows will reach them a lot sooner than they even have a change to fire._ Mother Goddess is on our side. _

"There's a lot of lonely men in there", Lancelot jokes badly at your sister. _Apparently I'm not the only one making a fool of myself, _you chuckle to yourself as Guinevere respond coldly that she won't let them rape him.

When the arrows start to fly you kind of loose yourself, only concentrating in the enemy. You vaguely hear hear the command of Arthur to make the Saxons cluster and follow it the best you can. The ice simply doesn't seem to break and as Arthur tells you to prepare for battle Dagonet looses it and runs to the ice with his ax. You see he gets himself within the range of the Saxons and without even thinking you grab his shield from the ground he had left it and run after him. You reach him just when the first arrows hit him in his leg and shoulder. You pull the shield to cover you both. You hear and feel the impacts of the arrows in the shield and the dreadful sound of the ice crackling under you two. You simply don't have the strength to drag the big man, who seems to have lost his consciousness, away from the shattering ice. Finally you experience the horrible feeling of the ice giving in under you two. You shoot one panicking glance to the shore behind you and see Bors and Arthur running toward you two before you sink with the man. The water is so cold it's almost warm and you still hold on to Dagonet as you sink slowly. Because of the freezing icy water your limbs loose all their strength and slowly but surely you start to loose your consciousness too. you feel a hand grab a shoulder that doesn't feel like yours.

You feel somebody's lips on yours, breathing air to your lungs and quickly are overpowered by the urge to cough. The strong arms of a man hold you as you cough water out of your lungs still feeling like drowning. Your head still feels fuzzy and your body trembles as you look in the brown worried eyes of the man who holds you and brushes a strand of hair from your face.

" Hey Tristan", you say with a dreamy voice smiling a little, "Is that and expression on your face?"

"We have to change their clothes!" Guinevere instructs the men fuzzing around you and Dagonet before Tristan has time to say anything to you, but you see him smiling back at you.

"Lancelot! I have a clean shirt in my saddlebag." Tristan tells to his friend never letting you go. You raise your hands to his chest and just look into his eyes lost in the moment although you are slowly freezing to death.

"Lucan has already lost one family. He doesn't deserve to loose an other one. How is Dagonet?" you ask whispering.

"He'll survive." you are reassured by Guinevere who helps you up and helps you to take of your clothes and put on the shirt of Tristan and the gaiters of some other knight as the men decently look away from you two. Well, all except Lancelot who apparently really likes to peak. He gets a smack on the head by Tristan when he notices it. In the meantime Dagonet had been given new clothes too.

He was pretty badly wounded and Guinevere has to stitch him up before you can continue your way to the wall. Tristan gives you his cloak for extra warmth and stays right next to you giving angry glances at Lancelot as you move around to keep yourself warm.

As you leave Tristan pulls you in front of him to his horse and puts his hand around your waist as Arthur takes Dagonet on his horse and Guinevere takes Dagonet's.

"Please never scare me like that again my spring" Tristan speaks to you for the first time whispering to your ear as you start to move. You smile and caress the hand which is around you leaning on him a little.


End file.
